Will Joe Biden be the 2020 Democratic nominee?

NEW HAVEN | A specialized ropes team repelled down a cliff at West Rock State Park to recover what was thought to be a body. It turned out to be a mannequin.

Hikers reported the discovery Saturday, but police said it was in such a dangerous spot that crews couldn’t get to it.

On Sunday, they called in the ropes team, which made it to the site and discovered there was no body to recover.

The State Police Major Crimes Squad was at the park, which sits on the Hamden-New Haven line, for about 2 1/2 hours Saturday night and at least three hours Sunday morning.

MAINE

Topless coffee shop seeks donations

VASSALBORO | The owner of a Maine topless coffee shop destroyed by fire says he plans to have clothed waitresses collect donations in the parking lot to raise money to rebuild.

Under town zoning rules, Donald Crabtree would need a new permit to start operating his business from a trailer or other structure on the property in Vassalboro, just north of Augusta.

Mr. Crabtree told the Kennebec Journal newspaper that he would set up a tent instead and have employees hand out free doughnuts and coffee next to a collection jar.

His home and business were destroyed Wednesday in a deliberately set fire just hours after he had talked with local officials about making the business more like a strip club.

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston Globe union to vote on pay cuts

BOSTON | The Boston Globe’s largest employees union faces an important contract vote.

The newspaper’s parent company, the New York Times Co., said in April that it needed $20 million in annual concessions from Globe unions - half of that from the Boston Newspaper Guild - to avoid shutting down the 137-year-old newspaper.

The Globe had $50 million in operating losses in 2008 and had been projected to lose $85 million this year.

The contract also would eliminate lifetime job guarantees for 190 guild workers.

The Times Co. has said it would impose a 23 percent wage cut if the proposal fails.

NEW JERSEY

Hudson tunnel project to begin

NORTH BERGEN | New Jersey officials are set to sink the first shovel into the nation’s largest transportation project, another tunnel linking the state to New York City.

Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony will kick off construction of a third tunnel under the Hudson River, an $8.7 billion project that’s expected to be completed in 2017.

The new link will be dedicated to carrying commuter rail traffic between northern New Jersey and Manhattan, permitting an exponential expansion in direct rail routes and doubling commuter rail capacity.

Gov. Jon Corzine headlines the group of state, local and regional officials who are expected to attend the ceremony, which will be held next to the tunnel’s future entrance in North Bergen.

NEW YORK

Sewage closes Coney Island beach

NEW YORK | Swimmers are being kept out of the water at Coney Island and nearby Manhattan Beach because of concerns about a sewage overflow.

The New York City Parks Department posted signs Sunday, saying swimming wasn’t permitted at the two Brooklyn beaches. But the Coney Island boardwalk remains open, and sunbathing on the sand was allowed.

The city Department of Environmental Protection said ocean water at the two beaches may be contaminated by raw sewage from a sewage treatment plant that overflowed.

Other city beaches were open for swimming.

Meanwhile, Nassau County officials reopened 22 beaches Sunday. The beaches had been closed over worries about stormwater runoff.

OREGON

Woman charged in pregnancy death

HILLSBORO | Authorities in Oregon say they have arrested a woman after a newborn she claimed was hers died and the body of a woman who had been pregnant was found at her home.

Washington County officials said Korena Elaine Roberts, 27, was being held without bail Sunday on a murder charge.

The county sheriff’s office said police went to a home in Hillsboro on Friday after a report that a newborn was not breathing. Officials said Ms. Roberts told them she had recently delivered the baby boy.

Ms. Roberts and the child were taken to a hospital, where doctors were unable to revive the boy. Authorities said the doctors also determined that Ms. Roberts had not given birth.

Officers searched Ms. Roberts’ home and found the body of Heather Megan Snively, 21.